The Government wants student nurses to spend a year working as support workers and healthcare assistants before taking a degree. Jeremy Hunt told the Commons it would lead to a better understanding of the caring role of frontline staff.

The Health Secretary was responding to the Francis Report into the serious failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Credit: Press Association

The Health Secretary says the Government is looking at new legal sanctions at a corporate level for NHS organisations which withhold information about concerns. The Francis Report suggested it should apply to individuals.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had told the House of Commons that in response to the Mid-Staffordshire scandal, the Government wants to embed a culture of "zero harm and compassionate care" throughout the NHS.

If he does accept it, it's probably the biggest advance in patient safety and patients' rights in the history of the NHS.

For over 60 years the NHS has done no more than pay lip service to the fundamental principle that if something goes wrong and a patient is harmed the health service should be open and honest about it.

It's a cancer, if you like, that has been eating away at the NHS, it creates a culture of cover up and denial, which permits and tolerates bullying and intimidation of whistleblowers, as well as dishonesty with patients.

Chris Dalziel lost her husband George after a routine operation at Stafford Hospital in 2007.

She said: "We've got to have people that will actually stand up, and they're not going to suffer by losing jobs through whistle blowing. People need to come forward, they need to be honest about everything that's going on in the hospital".